


I'll Take Care of You

by Shamrock3185



Category: Carmilla (Web Series), Carmilla - J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Hollstein - Fandom
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, domestic hollstein
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-30
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2018-11-21 14:46:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11359623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shamrock3185/pseuds/Shamrock3185
Summary: Carmilla gets the flu and Laura takes care of her





	I'll Take Care of You

It had been a little over a year since Laura and Carmilla stopped the apocalypse from happening and freed the Dean. Still going strong- stronger than ever, if honesty was being implied- the couple now lived far away from Silas University. They had settled into a one bedroom apartment of their own in Toronto, Canada. After surviving the almost-end of the world, Laura had transferred to the University of Toronto as a sophomore, continuing her studies and majoring in journalism. Carmilla, who was now mortal, had opted to not return to college, seeing as she was over three centuries old and held numerous degrees. 

Immediately after the world almost ending, Laura and Carmilla went back with Mr. Hollis to Laura’s childhood home, staying there for two weeks before getting their own apartment in Toronto. At first worried about finances and how they would pay for everything, Laura was interrupted one morning, sitting in her father’s kitchen, by Carmilla. Mr. Hollis, who had taken a quick liking to Carmilla (and vice-versa), was at work. Laura’s hair was messy and tousled, her sweatpants and tank top lazily thrown on after being quickly discarded to the floor the night before. Lucky for the couple, Laura’s father slept downstairs and Laura’s childhood bedroom was upstairs. After everything that had happened, they were constantly going at it like horny teenagers, their romantic and love life never having been better.  
Laura was sitting at the kitchen island, sipping a mug of hot coffee. The bright morning sunlight poured in through the windows, the house silent and still. That day’s newspaper was spread out on the counter top in front of Laura, a pen in her right hand, coffee in the left, a determined look etched into her face as she scanned the classifieds, looking for a job and circling anything that looked even remotely hopeful. As much as Laura loved her dad, she wanted a life of her own with Carmilla, definitely more privacy, and to go back to college.  
Out of the blue, a pair of arms wrapped around her waist.   
“Morning, cupcake.” Carmilla purred in her ear, kissing her cheek.   
Laura was still getting used to Carm’s body being warm and a normal temperature, no longer cool to the touch. She smiled and turned her head to the left, parting her lips ever so slightly for a kiss.   
When they broke apart, Laura looked up at her girlfriend. God, was she stunning. Even in the mornings, which really wasn’t fair. Carmilla’s dark curls were messy with bed head, hanging loosely around her shoulders. She was wearing nothing more than her bathrobe, the red one with cheetahs patterned over it. She grinned her signature grin as she looked down at Laura.   
“Hey.” Laura said happily, a wide, toothy grin spreading over her face. “I didn’t hear you get up.”   
“Yeah, well,” Carmilla started, taking the seat next to Laura and gently rubbing her back with her finger tips. “I may not be a vampire anymore, but I still know how to be stealthy.”  
“Is that so?” Laura asked playfully, raising an eyebrow.   
“Mmm.” Was all Carmilla responded with.   
Laura opened her mouth to say something else but was cut off by her girlfriend. Carmilla’s eyes had traveled to the newspaper spread out in front of them, noticing the blue ink all over the page.  
“What’s this?” She asked, her brows furrowing slightly in curiosity.   
“This,” Laura said with a sigh, “is me searching for a job.”  
“What?” Carmilla asked, her eyes popping back to Laura.  
Laura, however, lost in her stress, hadn’t noticed what her girlfriend said.  
“It’s another reminder of why I need to get back into university so bad. The job market is terrible, Carm. I don’t know how in the name of Skrillex I’m gonna be able to afford tuition, and a place to live, and-”  
Laura was rambling, running the hand holding the pen through her hair, her anxiety getting to her a bit. She was stopped in mid-sentence by Carmilla’s lips pressing against hers.  
“Laura,” Carm started, gently cupping the blonde’s face with her right hand and gently massaging her cheek with her thumb. “You don’t need to get a job.”   
Her dark eyes were loving and passionate as she folded the newspaper shut with her free hand.  
Laura raised her eyebrows in confusion.   
“What are you talking about? Of course I do!”  
“No, you really don’t.” Carmilla said, unable to hold back her lips twitching into a small smile.  
“Um… do you ever plan on moving out of my dad’s place?” Laura asked, now totally lost, spinning in her seat to face Carmilla properly. “And even if you didn’t, that still wouldn’t pay for my tuition.”   
“Cupcake,” Carmilla said, leaning in to her girlfriend, “don’t worry about money. Accept your spot at the University of Toronto and instead of looking for silly little jobs, why don’t you start looking for an apartment?”  
All Laura could do was look back at Carmilla, frowning.   
“What are you talking about?” She asked.  
Carmilla sighed.   
“Laura, I’ve been alive for over three hundred years, hopping from place to place, and university to university. What, you think just because I was a vampire I got everything for free?”  
“Wh- You never worked?” Laura asked.  
Carmilla was smirking now, amused.   
“Never, cutie. I was immortal with nothing to lose but time. Do you really think I’d waste it being barked at by some teenager, or a miserable half-wit in a suit and tie?”  
“Well… how did you survive, then?” Laura asked, her brows now completely furrowed, her face lined with determined thought. She was staring at her bare feet, trying to unravel how Carmilla could never have worked a day in her over three hundred years old life.   
“Um, I was the daughter and only child of Count Karnstein.” Carmilla said smugly. “Fortunes don’t go away just because your mortality does. And,” she sighed, “it didn’t hurt that mother was infinitely wealthy and well respected.”   
Laura was so shocked and caught off guard that her eyebrows had actually disappeared halfway up her forehead, her mouth slightly open. Carmilla was really smiling now, letting out a small laugh and curling Laura’s blonde hair through her fingers.  
“Carm, don’t take this the wrong way,” Laura said, her head spinning from this revelation, silently cursing herself for not wondering sooner how Carmilla survived financially for hundreds of years. “But…what does that mean…exactly?”   
“Don’t get your hopes up too high, Sundance.” Carmilla said. “We won’t be living in a gold palace or anything, but money is the least of our concerns. Someday you’ll have graduated from university and will spend your days running around interviewing people, sticking your nose and your two cents in everyone’s business (Carmilla said all of this with a loving smile, her dark brown eyes looking into Laura’s hazel ones) and you’ll have a good career that you love. But until then, I don’t want you worrying about money.”  
She reached over and grabbed Laura by the waist, guiding her so that Laura sat on top of Carm’s hips. Laura was beaming now, her hands wrapped up in Carmilla’s dark curls.   
“You’ve already worried and stressed enough for a lifetime, sweetheart.” Carmilla said in her low, deep voice. “That’s over now.”   
If Carmilla was still a vampire, she would have heard Laura’s heart pounding against her chest, her throat tightening as she leaned in and closed the gap between them, kissing her girlfriend passionately and with every ounce of love she could muster.

Now, a little over a year later, Laura was walking down the cold streets of Toronto, Canada, heading for her and Carmilla’s one bedroom apartment. It was the middle of January, snow crunching under her feet as she walked, her breath rising before her in a mist. Laura had just finished her classes for the day, her backpack hanging down off of her back as she shivered slightly in her pea coat, her fingers numb in their gloves.   
When she reached the apartment building she quickly threw open the door and hurried over the threshold, the warmth of the building crashing over her welcomingly. Taking the stairs instead of the elevator, Laura climbed to the second floor and walked down the hall, stopping in front of the white door numbered 138.   
Happy to be home, Laura turned the knob and walked into the apartment, kicking her boots off as she shut the door behind her.  
“Carm?” She called, searching the living room.   
Carmilla was nowhere to be found. The lights were all on but the t.v. was off. That meant Carm was home, somewhere in the apartment.  
“Maybe she’s in the bathroom?” Laura thought to herself as she slid her backpack to the floor, hung her coat up by the door and pulled her gloves off with her teeth.   
“Carmilla?” She called again, walking through the living room and into the kitchen.   
The kitchen lights were on, but it was completely deserted, untouched.  
Now starting to get a little worried, Laura hurried out of the kitchen, back through the living room and down the short hallway. She peeked in through the open bathroom door, but the lights were off and it was vacant. With only one room left, their bedroom, Laura walked into the room apprehensively. If Carmilla wasn’t here, where had she gone to? It wasn’t like her not to keep in contact with Laura throughout the day, like she had today. Not a single text or call the whole time she was in classes. And now she came home to a, presumably, empty apartment. Something was definitely off.  
However, Laura’s question was answered immediately upon entering the bedroom. Sprawled out horizontally on top of the bed covers was Carmilla, her eyes closed, her legs curled into her.  
Laura knew something was wrong just by the way she was lying. They had been together long enough for Laura to know what her body language meant.  
“Carm!” Laura said desperately, hurrying over to sit beside her on the bed. “What’s wrong?”  
Carmilla’s eyes fluttered open as Laura ran a hand over her back.   
“I think I’m dying, Laura.” Carmilla said croakily. She looked terrible.  
“What?” Laura said with a deep intake of breath. “What are you talking about? What happened?”   
As Carmilla opened her mouth to respond, Laura took her girlfriend’s face in her hands.   
She was burning up with a fever. Laura quickly moved her hand to Carmilla’s forehead, sweeping her hair back as she did so. Yes, she definitely had a fever.  
“I can just feel it.” Carmilla said in a raspy voice. “Something’s really wrong. I think I’m dying, Laura.”   
Laura was so relieved she actually laughed out loud, a small, empathetic smile playing across her face.   
Carmilla, who had only been mortal for a year now, was sick, not dying. She had the flu, which Laura knew immediately because not so long ago, she hadn’t been feeling so well herself, missing two days’ worth of classes. Carmilla pampered her with soup, hot chocolate and lots of kisses, even through Laura’s protests.  
“Carm- no! I’ll get you sick!” Laura had moaned from the couch as Carmilla pressed her lips against her girlfriend’s.   
“I don’t care.” She had said, smiling down at the blonde below her. “Besides, cupcake, after everything that happened, do you really think a little head cold is gonna kill me now?”  
It seemed that Carmilla was now eating her words. Her dark eyes flashed as she looked at Laura icily.   
“Are you laughing?” She spat.   
Laura’s smile grew as she leaned down, her face close to her girlfriend’s as she cupped Carmilla’s face in her right hand, massaging her hot cheek.   
“You’re not dying, babe.” She cooed. “You’re sick. You have the flu.”  
It took a second for Carmilla to catch up. When she finally did, her eyes shut and she huffed a sigh.   
Laura ran her fingers through Carmilla’s dark hair, exposing her face.   
“Being human sucks.” Carmilla growled.   
“It’s okay.” Laura laughed quietly. “Come on, let me help you up.”  
She had to half-carry Carmilla out into the living room where she laid her down gently on the couch, covering her with a blanket and turning the t.v. on for her.  
“Stay right here.” Laura said. “I know what you need.”  
She dashed to the bathroom, grabbing the leftover medicine from when she was sick, then hurried to the kitchen, pouring Carm a cold glass of ginger ale and wetting a hand towel with cool water.  
“Here.” She said, kneeling down beside the couch, close to Carmilla.   
“What is it?” Carmilla asked, as Laura held out two pills in her hand.   
“It’s for your fever.” She said, popping them into Carmilla’s mouth and handing her the ginger ale. “They’ll help with the fatigue and other symptoms.”   
Carmilla took the pills and flopped back down on the couch sadly, rolling over so that she was on her back. Laura pressed a loving, gentle kiss to her forehead before laying the cool towel across it.   
She stayed on her knees for a few minutes, stroking Carmilla’s hair, peppering her with kisses and cooing sweet things in her ear, mostly that she’d take care of her and that everything was going to be okay.   
Carmilla’s eyes stayed shut but she was still awake, listening. Laura could tell by her breathing.   
“When’s the last time you ate?” Laura asked suddenly.  
Carmilla had to think about that for a few seconds before answering.  
“Last night.” She grumbled.  
“Last- oh, my god!” Laura said, clapping a hand to her forehead. “You need to eat. I’m gonna go make you some soup.”  
“Not hungry…” Carmilla muttered.  
“I know, babe.” Laura said gently, “but you need to eat something. Trust me, you’ll feel better if you do. And drink the rest of that ginger ale. You’re not doing yourself any favors by dehydrating yourself.”   
Carmilla mumbled something snarky under her breath as Laura walked into the kitchen. Digging through the cabinets, she found a few cans of chicken noodle soup that she hadn’t finished off from when she was sick. Quickly heating it up for Carmilla, she walked back into the living room, blowing on it to cool it down.  
Carmilla really was in bad shape, something Laura noticed as she knelt down beside her once more. She was even paler than usual, which didn’t seem like it could be possible. She was sweating, her hair was messy and there were bags under her eyes. She lay limply on the couch, sipping on the straw of her ginger ale.   
“Poor thing.” Laura said, looking down at her girlfriend with adoring, sad eyes.  
“Spare me, sweetheart.” Carmilla said.  
“Okay, miss big-bad-used to be a vampire.” Laura said with a giggle. “Sit up.”  
Surprisingly, Carmilla obeyed immediately. She picked herself up slowly and leaned against the back of the couch. Laura sat next to her, attempting to spoon feed her soup.  
“Oh no.” Carmilla said huffily, turning her head away. “This is embarrassing enough without you feeding me like an invalid. I might be sick, but I still have my pri-”  
Laura cut her off by kissing her on the cheek. Carmilla turned her head to see her girlfriend smiling at her.  
“Laura, are you rea-”  
Laura kissed her on the lips this time, licking Carmilla’s lower lip, which made her smirk.  
“Shut up and eat your soup.” Laura said, pushing the spoon gently into Carmilla’s mouth.  
Giving her girlfriend an occasional ‘Oh, you just wait’ look, Carm put up no more resistance and allowed Laura to feed her soup.   
As Laura had predicted, having something in her stomach made Carm perk up a bit.  
“This stays between us, Sundance.” Carmilla said, wiping her mouth off with her hand.  
“Mmm, of course.” Laura teased, laying the empty bowl and spoon on the floor. “Come here.”  
She maneuvered herself so that she was lying beside Carmilla on the couch, Carmilla’s back to her, one of Laura’s arms wrapped around her waist. She pressed gentle kisses to her girlfriend’s neck and shoulder, Carmilla occasionally letting out a low hum of appreciation.   
They stayed like that until both drifted off to sleep, Carmilla’s fever coming down one degree at a time, Laura cuddling her close, determined to nurse her back to health.


End file.
